By COLLIN BREAUXWashington County is on track to receive $203,559.22 from a lawsuit settlement Florida and other states reached with pharmaceutical companies over the opioid crisis.
The money must be used to address the epidemic. County officials and NWF Health Network, the managing entity for the funding, will be working out plans on how to spend the money.
NWF Health Network representative Tracie Moorer gave a presentation on the coming funding during a Washington County Board of County Commissioners meeting on Dec. 14.
“This is an 18-year abatement fund,” Moorer said. “Your county receives this for 18 years. Of course, the amount changes over the 18 years. The most drastic drop is between year one and year two and it kind of fluctuates up and down throughout the 18 years.”
County Administrator Jeff Massey asked common uses of the funding in other counties receiving the money. Those uses tend to involve counties working with sheriff’s office, school districts, and departments of health, Moorer said.
“Other counties are doing other things, like buying Narcan to be distributed if that’s something that is needed in their community,” Moorer said.
Commissioner Tray Hawkins said he is interested in working with the local jail system to “prevent recidivism from coming back in and making sure we’re doing everything we possibly can to give them treatment while we have them in our custody.”
“If I can get some more information emailed to me on that, I would love to review that with the sheriff,” Hawkins said.
The BOCC is looking to have a workshop with the Sheriff’s Office and Health Department to further discuss what to spend the funding on.
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